


simplified molecular input-line-entry system

by peppersnot



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, based on the drama cd thing, rin please, your crush shows too often
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-17
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-21 12:52:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2468858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peppersnot/pseuds/peppersnot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maybe, Haru thinks, it's really rude of him to not smile for people who want him to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	simplified molecular input-line-entry system

**Author's Note:**

> the title is dumb but it spells out smiles, if you can tell. if you can't, it does. the drama cd thing destroyed me. this is based on my own post, and some tags that were added to reblogs.

Stupid Rin. Stupid, stupid,  _stupid_  Rin.

It was actually something extremely Rin-like. If anything was weirdly cheesy, you could expect Rin to do it. How do you ask someone for smiles? How exactly do you ‘order’ smiles, if you’re not dating? If you don’t know how to do it, you could go to Matsuoka Rin, because he will teach you  _exactly_  how to do it, without making it sound weird or cheesy.

Which is probably why he’s lying here, face buried in the pillow, mouth stretched into an amused and contented smile, trying to forget what Rin said – and how he said it – because really, it does nothing to serve his hormones that are dancing around in his body because Matsuoka fucking Rin asked him for a smile, which is something only couples and grandmothers do.

And Rin is neither his boyfriend (alas) nor his grandmother, so it makes no sense. Why did Rin ask him for a smile? Okay, so Rin is the King of All Things Romantic, but  _perhaps_  this was going too far. Or, Haru thinks as he gets out of bed and makes his way to the kitchen, maybe it’s not. This  _is_  Rin, after all.

Strangely enough, water doesn’t do much to take his mind off the day’s happenings. He’s sitting in the bathtub and at first it’s hot, then it’s warm, then it’s lukewarm and then it’s cold, and then he’s getting out of the tub, still,  _still_  thinking of Rin and his crazy demands for a smile.

(Why is his smile really all that important to Rin, anyway?)

(And why does he keep smiling, every time he thinks of the answer to that question?)

(He can dream, can't he?)

He thinks of Rin as he pulls on his clothes, and towels his hair dry. Thinks about that stretched out  _hmmm_  and the way Rin’s eyes gleamed right before he opened his mouth to leave Haru completely speechless. He thinks about the slight frustration he’d seen in those same eyes, when he’d refused to smile – although he  _had_  thought about giving in for once, because it’s not the end of the world, after all – and the apology as Haru had gotten dragged off by the manager.

He’s standing outside the Tachibana household, ringing he doorbell – he’s been invited for dinner – and all he can think of is Matsuoka Rin. And he’s still smiling.

Unsurprisingly, it’s opened by the twins and they jump onto him without mercy, clinging to their precious Haru-chan, and dragging him inside, ignoring his protests.

“You could have greeted him nicely,” Makoto says when he sees Haru – Ran on his back and Ren hanging off his arm. Haru scowls at the amusement in his tone.

Mrs. Tachibana is sweet as always. She asks about his health, his parents, his swimming, tells him he’s always welcome to their house, and that dinner isn’t ready yet, so he can go up to Makoto’s room, and she’ll call them downstairs when it’s time.

Makoto manages to make Ren and Ran go away before he closes the door of his room and turns to Haru.

“You look distracted.”

Not happy, Haru notes.  _Distracted_. Is he distracted?

“I’m not distracted.”

“Okay.” He sits down on the bed next to Haru. “But you’re thinking about something. Really hard.”

“I’m not.”

Makoto smiles, full of knowing and amusement and Haru panics for a second. “Nagisa told me Rin and his friends showed up today.”

“….so?”

“Oh, well” he shrugs, smile wider and possibly more amused than before, which Haru thinks is probably not possible and  _why_  does Makoto look so smug about this. “I just thought maybe something happened, to have you so lost in your thoughts.”

“My thoughts don’t revolve around Rin,” Haru says, which he knows is a lie, but then he’s saved by Mrs. Tachibana’s calls from downstairs.

Haru mistakenly puts too much salt in his soup, and has to force himself to finish it, and the taste of the food he normally relishes somehow doesn’t register in his brain. He loses track of the conversation multiple times, but is saved by Makoto who tells his parents that Haru’s just tired from work.

He’s not surprised in the slightest when they go upstairs again after dinner and Makoto gives him a smug look that clearly says ‘I told you so’.

“Rin came,” Haru says, as if that explains everything. He knows it doesn’t. Of course it won’t, because even Makoto knows that much. “He said he wanted smiles when I asked him for his order.”

“Did you give him the smiles?”

“No.”

“That’s so rude, Haru-chan.”

Haru scowls. Typical Makoto. “Why should I smile for him?”

“Well, he’s your friend, right? He’d smile for you if you asked it of him.”

“I don’t ask people to smile for me.”

“That’s because the people you feel you deserve smiles from, smile for you anyway.” Makoto’s still smiling and Haru thinks that’s on purpose, but not on purpose at all. “Maybe you should return the favour, especially if you’re being  _asked_.”

Haru thinks about  _that_  for the rest of the time he spends at the Tachibana house, and when he says goodbye and makes his way up the stairs, he thinks Makoto is right.

In his defense, he hasn’t been flat out asked for smiles before, so he didn’t know how to react in such a brand new and unexpected situation. But maybe, since he and Rin  _are_  very good friends, he should probably apologize or something. Rin looked disappointed at not getting a smile, after all. Why, is beyond him, but Rin probably has his own reasons.

It’s funny, though, and it’s such a Rin thing to do. Haru looks up and his eyes meet his reflection’s, in the glass of the mirror opposite the door. He’s mildly surprised to see he’s smiling again. He hadn’t even realized.

He takes out his phone.

-oOo- 

A few hours drive away, on the bottom bunk of a small dorm room, Matsuoka Rin’s phone beeps with multiple texts. He pulls it out from under the pillow and does a double take when he sees the sender. What the fuck is Haru doing, texting him a t this hour? Is there an emergency? Why else would Haru have his phone? And to be sending so many texts at the same time? 

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > :)**

**> > your order**

**> > apologies for the lateness and inconvenience of the time of delivery**

Rin stares at his screen in surprise. This is probably the cutest thing Haru has ever done. He’s already feeling butterflies, already realizing that with this, he’s not going to be able to think about anything else all night.

**_> > pretty shitty delivery, I have to say  
_ ** **_> > where’s the compensation?_ **

He sets the phone down, and closes his eyes. He doesn’t care about compensation. He has Haru’s smile, even if it’s not exactly his smile. It’s still some form of Haru’s smile. And he has  _ten_.

He’s not restless at all, he tells himself as he shifts around the bed for the next five minutes, constantly checking his phone. Sousuke grumbles about him moving the bed too much and he lies completely still. Then his phone beeps.

**> > <image attachement>**

Rin buries his face in the pillow, completely red, and screams. 

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted on tumblr@candylit


End file.
